Yoga Ban Not Stopping Indonesian Yogis

According to an article in today’s TIME, the Indonesia yoga ban doesn’t seem to be flustering too many yogis in the country as classes continue without much of a hitch.

Indeed, women like Evita Dwiandiya, another student at Jakartadogyoga, say they will continue to attend their weekly yoga classes. “This is not a mass movement or anything,” says Evita, who works in Jakarta’s private sector. “We’ll see if anybody remembers in three months.”

But the ruling is turning the heads of those already critical of the Ulema Council’s overreaching grasps for authority.

“I think the fatwa was issued now because of their ties to clerics in Malaysia,” suggests Hamid Basyaibm of the Liberal Islam Network. Few doubt it will have much effect. “The Council is trying to reassert its authority among Muslims as the guardians of Islamic belief,” says Azyumardi Azra, director of graduate studies at the State Islamic University in Jakarta. “The fatwa is counterproductive because Muslims who do yoga do not feel it alters their fundamental belief in Islam.”

It’s good to see Muslim yogis still practicing what they believe to be beneficial to their health and wellness. Sadly, it all seems a little too politically tweaked for us.